CHILD CARE OF THE BODY, MIND, AND SOUL

Fathers are providers and in their role as providers they must make available and arrange for the wellbeing of the physical health of that child. That means creating the environment by which good physical health can be fostered. Every child should be privileged to the three basic necessities of life, which are food, shelter, and clothing; a father’s sole obligation is to make sure that these necessities are met; this is the true validation of his manhood. Every man was created to and has in him the ability to be a father. The choice of not to be, whether by not having children or by shucking his responsibility for the children he has, is all up to him.

But as fathers, we must not forget that the care of and for our children goes way beyond providing them with those three tangible necessities of life. Fathers must take tremendous effort to provide the emotional, mental, and spiritual care that our children need. Some may argue that if a child is not given the tangible necessities of life how do you expect them to be emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy? Some, in fact, say this cannot happen. But I choose to challenge this theory. There are many children who have these tangible necessities given for them; some in excess; but while they live a life underived of physical needs they live it with emotional, mental, and spiritual deprivation. While living a life of tangible abundance their souls are empty, starving, naked and defenseless from the eroding effects of not having an involved father, mother or some other love one. Some may say “You can’t feed my soul when my body is hungry”, I sort of, kind of beg to differ.

Back when our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were coming up, they struggled and had very little; doing without one or two of the three basic necessities of life. But back then families were more interactive they had much more direct interactions than parents and children do today. In those days the dinner table was more than a place where you came together to eat mom’s good cooking. The dinner table represented a social event, a place of communication, a therapeutic sit-down, a place to unload and unwind. The dinner table was a place where traditions and customs were passed down, a place where stories were told and problems were solved. There may not have been much food on that table for the physical body but there was a plethora of food for the soul. The dinner table was that place where the souls of children and parents feasted and were full; thus the term “soul food”. The home itself was a school, a therapeutic center, an oasis, a place to synthesize and get answers to the questions about the experiences one dealt with outside the home. But now the home is just compartments filled with empty souls, void of communication and the propensity to no interaction even though provided with all the physical necessaries of life and an abundance of the un-necessaries. Nothing can be so empty than a home that’s full of everything and yet the soul of the children and parents occupying that house goes unfulfilled. So yes fathers are responsible for the care of their children but that care must encompass the care of body, mind, and spirit.